It even has one baseball insider openly wondering if the Rangers even belong in the playoffs.

After the Rangers dug themselves into a huge deficit Friday night and came up short in their rally, CBS sports’ Danny Knobler believes fans should look ahead to opening day next season:

“It’s hard not to think the worst about the Rangers right now,” Knobler wrote, “hard not to wonder if they even belong in the playoffs, hard not to look at the out-of-town scores and see the Indians winning and the Orioles winning and the Rays winning and think that this Rangers team might not even make it as far as last year's Rangers team.”

Knobler also brings up the fact that the Rangers began their collapse this year much earlier than last year.

"The biggest difference between last year and this year," he wrote, "is that last year's collapse came so late. At this point last year, the Rangers still had the best record in the league. The A's caught and passed them in the final days of the season, and the Rangers were a stunned mess when they hosted the Orioles (and lost) in the one-game wild card play-in."

Despite his stinging assessment, he does note that there is still time for the Rangers.

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